Silkworms now have a bacterial superpower thanks to CRISPR

A team in China has made genetically engineered silkworms that can fight off a lethal virus. They did it by giving the silkworms CRISPR: an immune system found in many bacteria. The same approach might protect a wide range of animals and plants from viral diseases.

The silk industry suffers huge losses because of a disease caused by the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV). “It would be incredibly important to have virus-resistant silkworm,” says Fritz Vollrath of the University of Oxford, UK, …